


Retirement

by MelindaCoulson4



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Domestic Bliss, F/M, Peace, set post season 5, the permanent vacation they deserve
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-23
Updated: 2018-04-23
Packaged: 2019-04-26 18:36:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,722
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14408097
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MelindaCoulson4/pseuds/MelindaCoulson4
Summary: philinda + actual happiness [previously posted on tumblr]





	Retirement

In the end there was blood. Bullets and death surrounded them. No one on their team died but everyone had a close call. Stab wounds. Gun shots through flesh. Broken bones. All around battered bodies and beaten souls.   
  
They sat in the room. The bodies of their deceased enemies littered the floor. Melinda held onto her bleeding arm, trying to slow the bleeding. The smoke from the fight had barely cleared before she made her decision.  
  
“I’m done. I can’t do it anymore,” she said with unwavering conviction.   
  
She’d never been more sure of anything in her life. This was the day she would retire.    
  
There wouldn’t be a next time for her. Someone would get killed and she couldn’t take it anymore. A lifetime of loss had become overwhelming. An array of ghosts seemed to follow her everywhere. It was time to let go.   
  
She walked away six days later without a doubt in her mind that it was the right choice.

* * *

 

The silence is her favorite part of being here. The pure solitude. The only sound being waves breaking on the shore. The sun warms her skin, makes it tingle all over. The smell of salt and suntan lotion swirls through the air with each breeze. It feels like home. 

She’s able to do tai chi every morning on the beach. Alone with her thoughts. Making peace with everything that happened. Trying to push negative energy and make the stress fade away. Now it’s all about getting accustomed to life without shield. Life without her family.   
  
They still had fight left in them- Daisy even more so now. But, Melinda couldn’t do it anymore. After almost having Phil die on them. It was the last straw. She couldn’t go through anything like that again. Never knowing when the next bullet would come and rip through her life, shredding everything in it’s path.   
  
For now she’ll take this feeling of her bare feet sinking into the wet sand. The wind blowing through her hair. And she’ll breathe easier. There will be no more gun at her hip or knife strapped to her leg. No more missions or bruises from being pitted against a lethal adversary who just needed to kill shield agents for one reason or another.   
  
No more harm.   
  
Home is now a small hut directly off of the beach. Not too far away that there isn’t a beautiful view, but also not too close that a storm would destroy the structure.  
  
There are windows everywhere. The whole place is illuminated by natural sunlight peaking through the glass. Air circulates easily when the windows are all propped open, creating a fresh feeling. So unlike a cooped up and stuffy bunker. Here there are hazelnut hardwood floors instead of cold and grey metal bomb shelter slabs.  
  
There’s a kitchen that she’s basically a stranger in, barely able to boil water in without a disaster. A small dining area for shared meals. A living room with a TV and a couch for casual viewing.   
  
No screams. No crying. No heartache.   
  
Her favorite part is the bedroom. The high ceiling and openness of the room. It’s made of warm, soothing colors with bamboo covered walls. That gives it a true tropical island feeling. The king sized bed is canopy style with a thin lacey fabric draped overtop. It’s simplistic.  
  
The worst part of being here: the smell of coffee wafting through the air each morning.   
  
She can’t control the wrinkling of her nose as she strolls into the kitchen to see a freshly brewed pot of it simmering in the machine.   
  
Her lips quirk up as she also sees two mugs on the counter. One empty for the coffee. The other filled with water and a tea bag, wisps of steam rising in the air.   
  
The light, barely there pattering of feet against the wood flooring signals his approach. Warm hands grasp her hips.   
  
“How was Tai chi?” Phil murmurs into her neck, dropping a light kiss to the sensitive flesh.   
  
“Nice,” she sighs, eyes falling closed in response to his touch. A shiver runs down the length of her spine. His solid body presses against her back, eliminating all space between them.   
  
He leans in for a kiss, craning his neck so he can meet her lips.   
  
She turns her head to the side to avoid his mouth. If he even so much as snuck a sip of coffee she’d be disgusted.   
  
His pursed lips land on her cheek. The prickly hairs of his five o'clock shadow scratch against her sensitive skin.   
  
He pulls away slightly affronted. “I haven’t had any,” he lightly whines.   
  
It’s their rule: no kisses from the moment he takes one drink of the coffee until he’s done with it all and brushes his teeth.   
  
Sometimes he cheats and gets her with coffee breath, so she’ll smack him on the arm. “Don’t do that….I hate it.”   
  
“But you love me,” he’ll reply with a knowing smirk ghosting over his lips.   
  
“Fine,” she relents, turning in his embrace and moving her hands to grasp his arms. They travel up to her favorite part of him: his biceps. The defined muscle comes as a result of years doing push ups, weight lifting, and sparring. These days he’s using them more for holding himself over her body while they’re in bed. That was a workout in itself. They could go on torturing one another for long periods of time.   
  
She raises herself up to meet him as he lowers his head. Their lips brush once, just a peck. Then he presses in again. This time their lips stay locked.   
  
Her fingers run up and down his arms feeling protected by his strong embrace.   
  
She pours her heart out each time their lips meet, making sure each kiss is full of everything she’s feeling. Every moment of regret from their past. Every thought she’s ever had for him flows between them. They’re making up for lost time.   
  
When they pull away she finds him staring at her. The softness in his eyes conveying all of the desires that he has. But best of all there’s an openness there now. Ever since they moved here all cards have been put on the table. There’s no reason to hide from each other anymore.   
  
“God…you’re beautiful,” he whispers softly into the space between them, voice deep and filled with want.  
  
She marvels at his ability to still makes her feel like she has butterflies fluttering in her stomach.   
  
“Phil,” she mumbles. Her eyes flick to the floor, still not entirely used to the constant compliments and adoration coming from him. Honestly, she doesn’t feel like she’s entirely worth it.   
  
It seems as though he’s hell bent on proving it to her. He touches her face gently then runs his fingers through her wind blown mess of hair, yet still he looks at her like she’s elegantly dressed up. “I am the luckiest man in the world to have you.”  
  
His words make her melt. She holds him tightly to her. “I love you,” she whispers into his chest. If anything, she’s the luckiest woman in the world to have him. He’s not dying anymore; he’s okay, sometimes she still has to reassure herself.   
  
His arms wrap around her back, keeping her against him. She’s safe and wanted by her best friend, partner, and lover.   
  
He came to her room two days after she told him she was done- after they’d both been medically cleared to leave their beds. He simply said, “If you’re leaving so am I.” Of course, she shook her head, believing he wasn’t grasping the situation and explained to him that she was leaving for good. It was time to say goodbye to shield. Then he replied, “I never want to be separated from you again.” His intense gaze trained on her and she knew he was being completely genuine. Her heart beat erratically in response. He packed his bags that same night.   
  
They fell into their physical relationship extremely well. Perfectly. Insatiable was the best way to describe it. Always touching. And when they got in bed at night the sex was mind blowing. Moans and groans. Skin pressed against skin in an explosion of passion and heat. She’d never been so in tune with another person. The pleasure that he gave her made her flustered each time she thought of it.   
  
The coffee maker beeps obnoxiously- another reason why she can’t stand the thing- breaking their embrace.   
  
He busies himself with pouring the coffee and adding the cream and one sugar to the mug.   
  
She extracts the teabag from hers and tosses it in the trash.   
  
Once they’re both content, they take their mugs out onto the porch just like every other morning and move towards the padded reclining chairs. He stretches his free hand out and takes hold of her mug while she prepares to sit. It’s a little tougher for her to lower herself into the chair because of her improperly healed leg. They hadn’t really noticed the effects until recently. After she’d fought for so long repeatedly on the wounded leg they found that it never repaired itself. She would never have the full range of motion as she did before. But they were working on it. The tai chi helped. Keeping active helped. The massages from Phil certainly helped. Having him by her side to help with anything she needs like now as he patiently holds the mug for her.  
  
She isn’t the only one with a bitter reminder of their difficult past. He still gets a flash of fear each time he coughs, waiting for his chest to explode with pain. Waiting for the inevitable dizziness and loss of consciousness- the fear of death takes over. Then, Melinda would snap him out of the trance by grabbing his hand and gently running her thumb on the back of it. Sometimes even calling his name to get him to look at her, so she could bring his focus back to her- back to reality.   
  
These are just the scars that they’ll carry for the rest of their days. They’ll deal with them together.   
  
This is their retirement. Their time to relax and just be together. And that’s enough for the both of them.

 

//end//

**Author's Note:**

> Thoughts? Thanks for reading! :)


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